


Betrayal

by mielipieli



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 04:30:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8953714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mielipieli/pseuds/mielipieli
Summary: Dick had told Kaldur not to tell him when he's going to defect. He needed to be surprised. And, boy, was he surprised.





	

Tula was dead. Dick still couldn’t quite believe it. She had grown to be an integral part of the team over the last few years. Now she was dead. Why was everyone always dead?

The people slowly filtered out of the grotto, leaving only Dick and Kaldur standing there. Kaldur stood in front of the statue. His face looked like it was made of stone but it also displayed his sorrow. Dick was at the wall a few meters away. He stood closer to Jason’s hologram. It still pained him how little affection he had shown the boy while he was still alive. He had thought he would have more time. 

Colder lowered his head after a few minutes. It looked like he was ready to go. But Dick needed to get something off of his chest first. So he quickly stepped forward and placed a hand on Kaldur’s shoulder. 

„I wanted to tell you how deeply sorry I am for your loss. I am sorry that she was in a position where she felt the need to sacrifice her life. It shouldn’t have been necessary.“ That was entirely on Dick. Had he planned the mission better, Tula would still be alive. He lowered his gaze to the ground. „I’m sorry.“

„I am, too“, Kaldur said. Before Dick could even stumble over the meaning of those words the air had been knocked out of him with an elbow jab to the solar plexus. He doubled over. 

Kaldur placed both hands on the sides of Dick’s head and knocked it onto his knee. Everything swam before his eyes and he went down. Before his vision could black out completely he felt a last painful kick to his head which pushed him over the edge.

————

His eyes couldn’t focus when Dick woke up. His ears were ringing. His head hurt like hell. After a few seconds the ringing stopped and a voice came through the static he was still hearing:

„…you okay? Can you hear me? Nightwing?“ That sounded like Zatanna. Dick looked at where thought her face to be and willed his eyes to focus. The willing probably didn’t do anything but sure enough he could soon see Zatanna quite clearly. Dick decided to push himself up and groaned when his head felt like it was going to burst. His stomach churned and he was just able to get on his knees before he started vomiting. 

Zatanna’s hand was rubbing his back and the people standing around them were casting him a few worried looks. Of course they would want some kind of explanation for what happened. Although Dick could probably just tell them that he doesn’t remember anything after the others left the room. When Dick finally thinks he’s done emptying his stomach, he falls back down onto his back and closes his eyes for a second. Damn his head. 

„Nightwing“, Batman’s voice tears Dick away from wallowing in his pain. „What happened.“ It’s more a statement than a question. Dick opens his eyes and slowly sits up while Zatanna frowns at him like she would rather tie him down than have him sit back up.

„I don’t know. Last thing I remember is you leaving the room and even that’s a bit hazy.“ His voice sounds rough. Dick pinches his nose for good measure. „But whatever happened should be on the security cameras.“ 

Batman nods and types something on his wrist. The holographic screen opens up. It starts at the time the others left the room. Dick watches himself going up to Kaldur and being taken down within a few seconds. Even if he had been trying to, he wouldn’t have been able to stop Kaldur’s attack. By putting his hand on Kaldur’s shoulder he was in a position that was too open to then defend himself. The other two moves were too quickly after the first for Dick to recover. And when Kaldur’s elbow hits Dick’s solar plexus, his surprise can be seen clearly. That is exactly why Dick told Kaldur to choose the time of his defection without telling him. 

It’s not hard to look shocked while watching the video. He does have a concussion and that does make everything he remembers questionable. But Kaldur’s moves were ruthless. He must have put a lot of anger into them and it’s no wonder he had such little difficulty being angry at Dick on command. Just like Dick doesn’t have much difficulty being shocked by what Kaldur did. Betrayal is something Dick would never expect. It pains to see it so clearly even if it isn’t true.


End file.
